De Ruyter: Eskom working to avoid load-shedding during elections

Eskom is working to avoid load-shedding for the election season, says the power utility’s CEO André de Ruyter. De Ruyter was speaking during an interview with eNCA on Wednesday morning. The power utility last week Thursday introduced stage 2 load-shedding. At the time Eskom was working on returning four units at its Tutuka power station, which experienced conveyor belt failures and boiler tube leaks.
/by

Ten EU countries call for the bloc to formally include nuclear in its future energy mix

Earlier this week, several newspapers across the European Union (EU) published a letter in support of nuclear energy, jointly signed by 15 Energy and Economy Ministers from ten EU countries, World Nuclear News has reported. The Ministers hailed from Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. They jointly called for nuclear power to be formally included in the EU’s future low-carbon energy mix, and before the end of this year. (The EU now has 27 member states.) They stressed that decarbonising the EU economy required very rapid and deep changes in the bloc’s production and consumption of energy, in order to slash carbon dioxide emissions. This necessitated greatly increasing the electrification of economic and domestic activities, which would need a massive increase in electricity generation. The development of new low-carbon industries would also increase the future demand for electricity.
/by

South African emergency power plan hit by new graft allegations

DNG Energy, a losing bidder for State contracts to supply emergency power in South Africa, made fresh corruption allegations against a winning bidder, Karpowership, and a government official. In an October 12 supplementary affidavit to court papers, the first of which were filed in April, South Africa-based DNG alleged that businessmen who are now partnering Turkey’s Karpowership approached the firm’s chief executive officer seeking a bribe. In exchange, they would ensure that DNG won a contract, Aldworth Mbalati, the CEO of DNG, said in the papers, adding that he spurned their offer.
/by

IEA warns of more energy market volatility as transition investment lags

There is a looming risk of more turbulence ahead for energy markets, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warns in its latest World Energy Outlook publication. “The world is not investing enough to meet its future energy needs, and uncertainties over policies and demand trajectories create a strong risk of a volatile period ahead for energy markets,” the 2021 edition of the flagship report warns.
/by

South Africa, Pimco conclude R3bn issuance under UNECA green energy programme

As part of its Sustainable Development Goal Seven (SDG7) Programme, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) announces that the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) and Pimco have reached terms on their issuance of R3-billion of debt securities, which signals the first closing. The SDG7 Programme, which was launched in February 2020, is aimed at deploying private capital in Africa to support the development of renewable energy.
/by

FSD Africa backs fintech pioneer to build new platform increasing access to carbon markets

FSD Africa, the UK government’s flagship financial sector programme in Africa, is making an initial investment of £650 000 in a digital solution connecting carbon credits from small-scale green projects across the global south with international buyers. The investment will deliver funding through the test phase of the solution being developed by Nick Hughes, who led the development of Africa’s mobile money service M-Pesa.
/by

Electrolux SA advances renewable energy journey

Household appliance manufacturer Electrolux South Africa (SA) has embarked on a journey to no longer make use of electricity from the national grid and to use solar energy to power its operations. As a result, the organisation is confident of cutting the carbon footprint of its local Kwikot water heater (geyser) manufacturing plant by 40%.
/by

CoJ signs deal with Kelvin power station for extra 100 MW

The City of Johannesburg (CoJ) signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the privately-owned Kelvin Power Station to increase electricity supply for the city by 100 MW. CoJ executive mayor Mpho Moerane signed the PPA on October 8 alongside Gauteng Premier David Makhura and CoJ Environment and Infrastructure Services Department executive council member Tania Oldjohn at the City Power headquarters, in Booysens.
/by

Kearney unpacks the decentralised power transition in Africa

Africa is on the cusp of a transition into a new energy paradigm, one in which technological and commercial innovation is delivering increasingly decentralised power to the continent in new ways, says consultancy Kearney.

Kearney has outlined in a white paper, the overarching strategic considerations for African utilities to forge a path to sustainability against the backdrop of this global paradigm shift.

/by

Sacci business confidence lower in September, but remains above pre-Covid levels

The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (Sacci’s) business confidence index (BCI) declined to 91 in September after having registered its highest level this year to date of 97 in May. The level of 91 in September, nevertheless, reflects a better business confidence level than the pre-Covid level of 89.9 in March 2020, Sacci notes.
/by